Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-09-24
THE POWER OF THE PRESS.
I. How n Newspaper is Made.
(Ey John A. springJ

hON A As
 CEy John A. springJ
 How a newspaper is made? Vel! that is simple enough. the impatient reader will say; you take sheet of paper ard print upon 1t.
 That is certainly the way it is done and simple enough i. appears too, but it is by no means SO. Paper and print ing ink are s no more important factor than is the water in :he ceremony or baptism; the ink must have spiritual ingredients and with it's help tine news of the day must bs brought before the public sad discussed. There is G great deal of printed paper. bns not all print ei paper is a newsPUper-not even sll that think they are.
 It nay then be interesting to the reader to follow the modus operandi which produces, let us say, one of our large dailies, from its incipiency to iEs issue.
 The principal thing in a newspaper IS its contents. If the reading matter It presents Is not acceptable. the paper. ink, labor, etc, expended upon It are wasted, for II will find few readers, II any at all. and the material value of 6 newspaper depends entirely upon the number of It's subscribers, or n other words, upon the extent of I.s oirculs- ton. The main spring, therefore, which sets the whole mRchiae Tn notion, es it were, i, the editor or staff Of editors, who give to she printed paper a soul, | iguratively speaking. And es m the | preparation of a good dinner, little im. portance is attached to the material and | shape of she pots and kettles, while tEe | quality of the ingredients. their nice | handling and mixture IS of paramount | importanca, thus would the type setter ; and printers work be of no avail. should they not receive the proper material from the editor whose office iA news paper parlance IS generally called his | "sanctuu-," a name not altogether map | propriate in these modern days when | we consider that matters of world wide | importance are there not only ably dis | cussed and commented upon bu. quite | frequently brought to declsive Issue | But ot this more anon.
 Let us then first look into the work of the editorial department. We hear not unfrequently the remark that sny- body used tO writing" cGn just sIt down and write something; that IS busi- ness, you know, just as easy as for q | osrpsnter to make door. but II WCuld be as aseiC ss Tor the,ed;tor To write snythInR ! nos tl b.. point 8s 1t you'd be for Q lCcksm;lh 70 make key that would iii ID lock.
 Above all things the public loo ks for | ID a new6pE; e IS the latest news, as late as can possibly be prOcarei before | goioS .o press and next the tGoUg Uga;fui | reader will look tO his paper for au sOle "ieEdc." whi h discusses the DeWB and the probable consequences h all its | bearings The obtaining Of news is therefore the first care of the editor and ths telegraph Is the principal means | lo which be looks for tEls supply from | all parts oi the world. But the tele- graph itselt naturally gives information about only such matter ss IS intrdssed | 10 It by & reporter and of these report CTS there are legiOns; they exist 20: | only ID all tne lar.e cites of tais and other countries. bu. almost every town of importance and every county seat has one. But not evegy newspaper can have in its psy Ou so many different places Is particulsr reporter, ELp is ex- | ciu-iyrly iu it's serviCe--thc T.caest of | them could ucs afford t1 hsye under sul- ary an army If five ihcu eg.: ra U.Tters and, theiCrefnre. the ueas,rp=ls of this country have formad, -bYGs 0 qusr- ter oi century ago. a pOweStui a-s ,cia- 1 tiOl. known as the 'EssOcil.-ci press. whIsh gathers ia g ceorrsI vIscsa all the nt ss sent n b. Eii th- G.f5sent reporters sn1 d;st-iOctsd c tO a1 Ifa :Crn- beTs. Tn--a reports occupy daily hun- | dre Ct sheets whose contents .pusi be Tea 6, corrected sad h riJxei Eu- sum of tle daily reports Cf the s so IatCi press ByeAges cue bJhdfsi thousand vOris, Vaich Is es='ig pronounced, but wnIch eau oniy Or HOsaiaed by iDHnite iabSr, aud may midnight rides th-oa9 h | storm acd TeiD.
 Yet even with it's army of reporters the Associated Press cannot always be informed of everything which might interes: a large part of the readers of 0 paper whose principal am is to communicate such matter as iutiU- ences most the result of events. and iu order to bring s variety Of news this had be put n ths shortest possible fcFm | Besides the reports of the AssOcisle5 | Press there happen great msny things which interest tbs public. and about which it desires t1 be informed, and these matters tha newspaper receives from o.ber newspapers (eScbanges) of which every lHrge daily keeps several hundred of both hemIspheres. These mus. br carefully searched for such news Gs seems to the editor appropriate for hIs purpose ard here the scissors come ! into play until the space allotted Is the pBDer for thIs purpose ls filed
 Besides thess sources every large daily employs some spDndents who re- pOr5 about occurrance. which if would Ge difficult to eiucidaie inside of the nsrro~ frame of tele2rs phic dispatch. and not e few voluntary correspondents send in their cuntFiDuioUs mostly aDout things wbich 10 crest them, and in con sequence they be'isye InC-s interest the world at large. S,ii! 8Il tbis cOrresp5n- dencs the iare oi shich quite often presents difficulties i1 tbs way of kai- grsphy, uSsaogS. DEy, aud EyRtGz, must be peruaed receuse Is Digit coGtain something Ot vaiue for the paper, sl- though as a rule aoOus EIHe tenth4 of this voluntary cor ssyandeLcs Gada it's wBy uhseen and Unhetsd into tho waste psper 1gskei.
 A large part Of the daily i5 .iedicstsd tg ltaai uaUz Ha-r fau- r....,ge a..